The peace agreements are imperfect and generate impunity, but it is the best possible tradeoff in exchange for long term wellbeing in the country, and Santos has successfully understood and negotiated under this premise, even though it has meant some huge compromises on his and the government's part. This is why he truly deserves the Nobel peace prize.
Unfortunately the opposition manipulated and lied about the contents of the 297 pages peace agreements (which the director of the opposition party openly recognized and for which he will probably go to jail for), and spread baseless claims that old people would lose their pensions, that communism would take over power and private property would be eliminated, which ultimately ended up in them winning the plebiscite.
But even after this big reversal Santos has not renounced to the presidency and is now negotiating with the opposition to see what modifications need to be done so that a peace deal with the guerrilla can finally be closed, coming to a 60 year division.
Many people are willing to stand on the sidelines rather than take action when there don't seem to be any good solutions. This is partly why the work Santos is doing is important. There are no solutions that would make everyone happy, but passively doing nothing is not a good option, only the easy option. Santos has had the courage to put forward a path to peace, even if it is not popular.
Did I just happen to ask the wrong people or is political awareness that low in Colombia?
And yes, political awareness in Colombia is low. The abstention for this plebiscite was greater than 60%.
That surprises me as people weren't at all shy about how much they disliked the FARC.
And yes, political awareness in Colombia is a bit like an Internet forum: where memes are more prevalent than intelligent discourse.
This is a really difficult situation, and this Nobel prize was really unexpected. When the plebiscite results where announced last Sunday, the whole country was astonished, even those who where for the No vote, as polls predicted and overwhelming support for Sí. I was very dissapointed with the result, even ashamed, as it was barely a win for No, but shown mostly an abstention level not seen in two decades. I cannot understand that a majority of Colombians didn't want to take part in one of them is important decisions in a century. Unbelievable.
Regarding the No: I can understand that people feels this peace deal brings impunity to the victims, that will be difficult to support financially, and puts a handful of insurgents directly on the congress. It does, and I believe basically no one is happy with that. But we are negotiating with a 50-year old billionaire militar criminal enterprise with strong Marxist roots and an original mission to take the power by force. And maybe it's own existence is due to the government actions in what was called Operation Marquetalia, which doesn't help with trust. It is worth remembering that Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in the world, with a top ten Gini coefficient.
Regarding Alvaro Uribe: even if successful in weakening the guerrillas, has a complicated history with the paramilitary, which have been at least as vicious as the guerrillas itself. His brother has been convicted due to ties with this groups, and his government and way of thought is from the hard right, and his way of talk is based on populism and loaded language. He is the major proponent of the No, and as a I see it, only to get his name on the deal, and even more, to push for a constitutional reform so that he is able to become president, for a third time. I feel that's sabotage.
Regarding Juan Manuel Santos: I did not vote for Santos in 2010, but for Mockus. He is not without scandals, mainly due to his actions under Uribe, who is know his strongest opposition. But I did vote for him in 2014, because he is a outstanding negotiator: and I was right, he got the peace deal signed, which no one was ever able to do before. Sadly he is a very bad political leader for the people, lacking good rhetoric and sympathy, and was not ably to rally the masses for the Sí. I'm simply unable to judge at this point if this Nobel prize should have been given to him.
Regarding the Sí: This is not the best deal we could have dreamed, maybe not even the best we expected, but was what could be achieved at that table at that time. I don't think we can get a peace deal without high sacrifice, and coming out smiling from the negotiation. This is a matter of opportunity cost: what reality did you prefer, the one where we painfully finish this conflict throughout the next decade, or the one where we perpetuate the longest lasting conflict in the Americas. Those most affected by it chose the Sí. I did too.
I just hope that we find a way out of this, with peace as a final outcome.